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More Companies Accelerate Dividends Ahead of Cliff

Three more companies -- including American Eagle (AEO), Coach (COH) and Carnival (CCL) -- joined a bundle of other companies on Tuesday announcing plans to pay dividends this month ahead of the looming fiscal cliff deadline.

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The retailers and cruise operator joined dozens of others, including Oracle (ORCL) and Wal-Mart (WMT), that have either declared special dividends or moved forward dividend payments to December in an effort to avoid a more-than-doubling in dividend taxes under consideration should the U.S. fail to overcome fiscal challenges by the end of this year.

Pittsburgh-based apparel company American Eagle declared a regular quarterly cash dividend of 11 cents a share on Tuesday and accelerated the payment of its 11-cent fiscal 2013 first-quarter dividend that would normally be paid in April. The combined cash dividend of 22 cents is payable on Dec. 28 to shareholders of record on Dec. 19.

New York-based designer-handbag maker Coach revised the payable date for its previously declared quarterly cash dividend of 30 cents a share. It is now payable on Dec. 27, up from an earlier Jan. 2, to shareholders of record on Dec. 7.

Miami-based cruise operator Carnival announced a dividend of 25 cents, payable on Dec. 14 to shareholders of record on Nov. 23. It also declared a special payout of 50 cents, payable on Dec. 28 to shareholders of record on Dec. 7.

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While Coach and Carnival did not immediately respond to FOX Business regarding why they chose to pay dividends this month, other companies, including Wal-Mart and American Eagle, have specifically cited the fiscal cliff.

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A failure of the U.S. to resolve fiscal issues by the end of this year could cause dividend taxes to more than double to 39.6% starting next year.

Oracle announced plans late Monday to accelerate its second, third and fourth quarter dividends so that all three are payable in December, while Walt Disney (DIS), Brown-Forman (BFB) and luxury watch maker Movado (MOV) all announced changes to their dividends last week.